My youth has all but faded. But my three-quarter-life crisis is filled with fascinating revelations and boundless joys

‘Self-evaluation and self-understanding, which I ran from like it was wildfire until my 50s, has been and continues to be a fascinating revelation,’ Paul Daley writes. Photograph: Tim Robberts/Getty Images

In the treacherous depths of middle age, bits of your mortal frame invariably crumble.

My lower right molar, saved by root canal surgery days after I turned 50, finally disintegrated eight years later. The dentist organising a prosthetic replacement assured me: “We guarantee the tooth for 25 years. That should pretty much see you through!’’